#anyways gonna pop this bad boy into the oven to bake in the color

[betweenblackberrybranches]

Got a porcelain pen now im unstoppable

[mageofseven]

Bros and undateables react to MC who bakes in the middle of the night when stressed

I read this and my brain was like "so Beel's dream MC?". Of course, doing it out of stress isn't good, but Beel would definitely enjoy midnight sweets~

Anyway, will do, Nonnie! Please enjoy 😊

Also, like always, I'm splitting this into two parts: one for Brothers and the other Undateables for space reasons.

~

Lucifer:

Was heading to the kitchen to get himself more coffee to continue his paperwork.

When he saw the kitchen light on, he expected to catch Beel raiding the fridge.

Instead, he found MC at the oven, pulling out another set of cookies to add to the already monstrous pile of them on the counter.

"MC, what are you doing?"

The human jumped at his voice then gave an awkward laugh.

"Baking..."

"Yes, I have eyes, Love." He tells them. "What I mean is, why are you baking at 1am?"

"...I dunno."

The man sighed before approaching the human and turning off the oven.

"Regardless, I believe you've made enough cookies for one night. It's time for bed."

The human didn't move however.

"Darling?"

"I can't sleep..."

MC proceeds to explain how they get bad anxiety at night and how usually they can power through it, but with some school stressors on top of it, it became overwhelming and they just needed to do something to distract themselves.

The demon frowned.

"Love, you should have just came to me if you were having issues."

"But you're busy with your work--"

"That doesn't matter if you need me though."

The firstborn smoothed down their human's hair, which was messy.

"Now follow me to my room. I'll make sure you get some rest."

"But what about the cookies?"

"I'm sure Beel will wander in and take care of them for you."

Mammon:

Just got back from a party and was heading to the kitchen to grab a snack before heading up to his room

Only to find MC awake and... icing a cake?

"Oi! Human! What's with the cake?"

"I baked it."

"Well duh. But why?"

The human finished icing it, making the cake a colorful one with all of the brothers' colors.

"Because I wanted to." The human shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "Do you want a piece?"

"Uh.. sure." The demon mumbled.

He hopped onto the counter next to them as he watched them grab a plate and cut a piece for him.

MC handed the plate and a fork to him.

"It's red velvet." They said proudly.

"Yeah, yeah..." The man mumbled, taking a bite.

His eyebrows raised.

"Man, this is good!" His face went red at his words so he dialed back. "I mean, its okay... ya know."

MC gave a small smile, but it quickly fell into a heavier look.

"Hey, what's with that face??"

MC quietly hopped on the free counter next to him.

They didn't answered, just lightly kicked their feet as they stared at the floor.

"Oh c'mon, Babe, talk to me 'ere!"

MC sighed.

"I'm sorry. My anxiety is just bad tonight... I wanted to keep busy."

...oh.

The Avatar of Greed sat the plate down and put his arm around his Human.

"I don't get why you went to straight to baking..." The demon thought aloud. "But it doesn't matter. I'm home now, got that? You don't have to be anxious on your own..."

MC gave a soft smile.

"Thanks, Babe."

"Nothin' to thank me for. Now just let The Great Mammon take care of you!"

Leviathan:

This boy's sleep schedule is kinda fucked up

So it's not unusual for him to be up at 3am.

The Avatar of Envy ran out of pop in his room so he ventured out to the kitchen to get some more.

Which is how he found MC in the kitchen with like... seven cheesecakes???

"...What am I looking at?"

"Cheesecake."

"Well duh, normie." The demon rolled his eyes. "But why did you make cheesecake at like, 3am?"

Silence. Levi was suddenly worried that they hurt his Human's feelings and the look is their eyes definitely wasn't filled with the positivity that he's used to.

"Look..." He came up and hugged them close. "I just don't get it. Please don't be upset."

MC laid their head against their boyfriend's chest.

"It's fine." They mumbled. "I'm sorry... I just couldn't sleep so... I just came in to bake and this was the outcome."

"You should have just came to my room." He pulled back to look at them. "You could have been watching me play Rune Factory or something."

MC turned away from the demon, wrapping their arms around themselves.

"I'm not too clingy... right?"

"I... what?"

MC sighed.

"I didn't go to you because I was worried that you just wanted time to yourself and I'm always with you during the day..."

Levi just shook his head at every word they just said.

"Look... I always want my Henry with me." He blushed. "And yeah, I like my time away from other people, but that doesn't include you; just other normies."

"Are... are you sure?"

"I mean, yeah." He mumbled. "So... just don't worry about it, okay?"

Satan:

This man usually has a better sleep schedule but tonight he had stayed up reading just a bit too long.

He started heading to the kitchen to get some water and found MC with counter surfaces covered with cupcuakes while they looked really stressed and teary-eyed down at the one they were drawing on with icing.

"Kitten?"

MC jumped and quickly raised their hand to wipe their eyes.

Satan strode over and stopped them, looking down into their eyes.

"Kitten, what's wrong?" He wiped away a fallen tear.

They avoided their boyfriend's gaze.

"It's not working..." They mumbled.

"What are you talking about?"

"The cats aren't turning out right..." Their gaze falls to the dozen cupcakes with cat faces drawn on them in icing, but didn't meet the human's standards apparently.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. Surely they weren't in the kitchen crying over cupcakes because their designs weren't coming out well?

He sighed.

"Give me your hand." He took the human's hand with the bag of icing and brought it over a cupcake. He guided them with the design and helped them make a cleaner-looking cat.

"Thank you." MC sniffled.

Satan pressed a kiss to their forehead.

"Now what's the real issue, Little One?"

MC didn't say a word, just lightly sat the icing bag down and stared at the cupcakes.

Their boyfriend waited patiently and just rubbed circles on their hand with his thumb.

"I... I'm not gonna be sent away if I fail a class, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

MC shifted their gaze to the ground.

The blonde sighed once more and wrapped his arms around their waist.

"Talk to me, Kitten."

They sniffled.

"I'm failing my Hexes class." They mumbled. "This semester got so much harder and my grade took a nose dive... and the requirements to stay in the program say I gotta keep my grades in a certain range..."

"MC... you should have told me sooner." He tightened his embrace around them and set his chin on their shoulder.

"B-But you can't always help me--"

"Yes I can, Kitten. I'm always ready to help you when you need me."

"Satan..."

He kissed their cheek.

"And trust me when I say I would never let anyone take you away from me." He told them. "I'd fight the whole Devildom to keep you by my side."

He placed one last kiss on their temple.

"I'll help you study tomorrow. For now, let's clean up and get some rest."

Asmodeus:

Another one who just came home from a party and was heading towards his room when he heard a frustrated sigh come from the kitchen.

The demon poked his head inside and found MC staring down at... something. Whatever it was supposed to be, it just looked like charcoal now.

"Doll? What are you doing up?"

MC sighed.

"Baking." They eyed the black brick on the counter. "Or well... tried to anyway."

Asmo stepped inside and immediately went over to kiss his human.

They smiled a bit.

"Welcome home."

He smiled back and gave his Doll a big hug.

MC relaxed into the hug.

"My anxiety is just bad tonight for basically no reason." They explained, burying their face in the crook of his neck. "I was waiting for you to come home."

"Aww, Dolly." He pulled back and kissed their check. "You should have texted me! I would of been home sooner!"

"No, no, it fine." They pulled away. "Did you have fun?"

"Yep! Of course, I would have had even more fun if you came me, but I still made do~."

He gave them another kiss, this time on their nose.

"Now why don't we lay down now, hmm?"

MC smiled.

"Okay, thank you, Azzy."

Beelzebub:

Midnight kitchen raid. A usual nightly occurrence.

This time however, the Avatar of Gluttony's nose was greeted by a sweet smell as he approached the kitchen.

"Oh Beely!" The human displayed their plate full of fudge squares to him. "Please try them and tell me what you think."

Was he dreaming? The man felt like he was dreaming. Still, he didn't hesitate to accept the human's offer.

He made quick work of the fudge and smiled happily at his Muffin.

"Good?"

"Amazing." He stepped forward and hugged his human.

After a moment though, his smile fell.

"Wait...what are you doing up?"

Silence.

"Muffin?"

MC broke away and sat the now empty plate in the sink.

"I dunno. I just couldn't sleep." They explained. "I guess I just..."

The demon stared down at them, waiting patiently.

"Ugh..." MC let their face fall into his chest.

He stroked their hair quietly, brows furrowing in concern.

"I got a test on Friday and no matter how much I study for it, I can't stop stressing about it." They sighed.

"What class?"

"History..." They mumbled. "Why do we have to cover a whole century of events in one test?"

Beel patted their head and hugged their human close.

"Can I sleep with you tonight, Beely? I don't think I wanna go back to my room."

He kissed the top of their head.

"Of course, Muffin."

Belphegor:

Believe or not, its common for Sleepy Boy to be up late at night.

He sleeps so much during the day that he's usually awake starting from after his dinner nap to about 4 or 5 am.

Hence him being awake at 2am and heading towards MC's room, only to notice that their room was empty, but there was noise coming from the kitchen.

He found his Human sitting on the floor in front of the oven, staring into it.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting for the brownies to bake." They said dully, not looking away from the oven.

"Are you baked?"

MC lightly hit his arm, but broke out into a small smile.

He smirked.

"Come on, I mean, who bakes brownies at 2am and just stares at them?"

Their smile fell, as did their gaze; they stared down at their bare feet.

Belphie frowned.

"Okay, what's the problem, Butthead?"

No response. He gave a small flick to their head.

"Ow..." The human rubbed their forehead, looking to the Avatar of Sloth as he stared expectantly at them.

They sighed.

"I've been getting nightmares lately... at least I think I have been."

The demon raised an eyebrow.

"You think you've had nightmares?"

"I... can't actually remember them." They mumbled. "All I know is that I'll have them and wake up crying with my heart pounding... but I can never remember why. Like, what the dream was about..."

"How long has this been going on?"

"About... two weeks I think?"

He flicked them on the forehead again.

"Ow!" They rubbed their forehead once more.

"Dummy. You are literally dating the demon whose an expert on sleep and stuff."

Silence. He sighed.

"Come here." He pulled them in for a hug. "Come to my room. I'll keep the nightmares away, got it?"

[lifblogs]

#SPNAdventCalendar2020 | Cooking and Baking | @bend-me-shape-me

READ ON AO3

The thick, white pages of the brand-new book sitting on the metal counter in the middle of the bunker’s kitchen rustled as Castiel flipped through them. He thought he’d seen instructions for what he was doing somewhere near the front of the book. He was wearing one of Dean’s T-shirts, and had foolishly chosen a black Metallica shirt. It now had various white powders decorating it. Truly, it hadn’t been Castiel’s fault. How was he supposed to know that dry ingredients didn’t need to be whisked so vigorously? He’d never done this before.

What he was looking for now was what it meant to “cut the butter into the flour mixture.” Surely he would’ve seen Dean do it at some point?

He sighed, thinking maybe this had all been a bad idea. He just didn’t know how to do these kinds of things, even with the cookbook, it would seem.

You’re four-hundred million years old, he chastised himself. There’s no reason you can’t learn.

After finding the instructions he was looking for, he managed to painstakingly teach himself how to do what the recipe said. The eggs decided to be difficult. The shells kept getting in the mixture, and he’d had to hunt them down and remove them. Eggshells did not like being grabbed. Yolk was just such a strange substance, and as he continued with this task, he wondered why humans even liked eggs. Then again, humans liked a lot of strange things.

Dean walked in while Castiel was staring down at the bowl, poised to crack another egg. He’d been attempting to do this in the middle of the night so it would be a surprise for his family, but perhaps he’d been making too much noise.

Dean paused in the entryway closer to the bedrooms, and he stared at him.

“What are you doing?” he asked, voice gruff with sleep. But there was no mistaking the alertness beginning to light up in his eyes.

“Baking.”

Castiel raised the egg, ready to crack it on the side of the bowl, and Dean rushed over, hands outstretched.

“No, don’t!”

“Why not? This is how Sam does it.”

“And that is exactly why you shouldn’t do it. Now put the egg down before you hurt yourself.”

Castiel did as he said, and, intrigued, he watched Dean get a little bowl down from a shelf. Then he grabbed the egg, rinsing it in the sink as he explained, “Eggs are like fruit.” Castiel tilted his head at him. He was about to say that, no, they weren’t, because they didn’t grow on a plant, but Dean went on, “They can get all nasty stuff on them in the store, so you gotta rinse ‘em off.” He came back over to the counter with the clean egg, and the bowl, and then said, “This is how you do it.”

He cracked the egg in the smaller bowl.

“How come?” Castiel asked, seeing as the egg’s innards just ended up in the mix anyway.

“This way,” Dean explained, “you crack them one at a time, and you can pick the bits of shell out — if there are any — without having to go crazy with sticking your hands in the mix. Now, what’s next?”

“We need the vanilla extract.”

Dean leaned down, hands on his hips, peering at the book. He was sucking on his bottom lip in concentration, and he seemed so serious about it all. With the way his pants were twisted about wrong on his body from his sleep, and his hair a subtle mess, Cas couldn’t help staring. Dean Winchester was many things, and cute was definitely one of those things. He didn’t know if he could tell him that though.

“Did you preheat the oven to 375 degrees?” he asked.

Cas gave him a blank look. “What?”

Dean pointed at the first line of instructions. “Here. It says you’re supposed to preheat the oven.”

“I’ve never used the oven before.”

Instead of sighing or seeming tired and exasperated, Dean just led him over to it and showed him how it worked. He let Castiel then finish the work of setting the temperature and hitting start.

Dean guided Cas through the recipe, and in no time at all, they had gotten the sugar cookies in the oven. Cas crouched down to watch, wanting to see the neat circles of dough turn gold.

Dean whacked at him with a towel, and it gently slapped across his ass. Castiel straightened, turned, and glared.

Dean pointed a reprimanding finger at him, “Hey, don’t look at me like that. There’s still more work to do cookie boy.”

“Cookie boy?” Castiel asked with a laugh, going to embrace Dean from behind.

“It was either that or egg man,” Dean reasoned.

Cas shook his head, smiling in amusement.

Dean gently shoved himself out of his arms, and then set about gathering up various items and ingredients from the kitchen. He was so fast that Castiel twirled, and twirled again as he watched him. His boyfriend informed him, “We have to decorate them. So that means icing. I’m thinking we do a border icing, and then a flood icing.”

Castiel had questions about what those words meant, but he knew they’d be answered as they worked. Instead he asked, “Where did you learn all this?”

Dean glanced over his shoulder at him from where he was grabbing some kind of powdery sugar from a shelf. “Taught myself,” he answered.

Castiel grinned, showing his teeth.

“It’s very impressive.”

Dean shrugged and brought the last of the items over. “It’s just baking, sunshine.”

“Yes, but it’s creating something.”

“I mean, lots of people can create.”

Cas let out a sigh he felt in his entire body, and rolled his eyes so hard he ended up tilting his head with it. Dean was glancing at him now, pink lips parted slightly. It was hard to resist kissing him when he looked like that.

“Dean, just let me compliment you.”

Dean’s mouth snapped shut, and a blush filled in his cheeks, making his dusting of freckles pop out.

Then they set to work on the different icings, Dean explaining everything. The cookies apparently had to cool or else the icing would melt right off of them, and Dean got impatient, so he put them in the fridge once they were done. Even with the oven off now turned off, the kitchen was nice and toasty.

Soon, there were a few bowls of icing sitting before them, and in three different colors: white, red, and green.

“First step of decorating,” Dean began, before sharply cutting off, digging a few of his fingers into a bowl of green flood icing, and slapping them to Cas’ face.

Cas retaliated without a thought.

Soon, Cas had a spoon, and Dean a spatula, and they each had their respective bowls and were flinging icing at each other.

Dean slipped on some of his red icing he’d gotten on the floor, and Castiel reached out to help… consequently dropping his bowl. Dean landed first, on his back on the floor, howling with laughter, and then the bowl hit, and icing splattered on Cas.

Ignoring the icing, he rushed over, and knelt by Dean, feeling him over. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Dean just continued cackling, so Castiel took that as a good sign. He grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down into a kiss that Castiel easily returned.

“You know, we have to make more icing now,” Cas pointed out.

Dean shrugged, pushed the upper part of his body up towards Cas, and leaned into him, tongue finding his face.

Cas flinched back in surprise, and Dean growled. “I want the icing on you, god damn it!”

Castiel just responded by wiping icing from Dean’s face and forcing his finger in his mouth.

“There. Icing.”

Castiel stood, and Dean started laughing again.

They laughed until suddenly, Sam was standing in the doorway, arms out in frustrated shock.

“What the hell is happening in here? You’re gonna wake Jack.”

Cas just glanced at Dean, and Dean did the same. They smiled, and immediately, they were moving. Dean grabbed the bowl of white border icing. Cas grabbed the spatula, and they shot a large glob of icing right at Sam. Apparently too tired for this, Sam left, grumbling and swearing. Castiel just sat, pulled Dean into his lap, and fed him what was left in the bowl.

“At least we did decorate something,” Castiel said.

“What?”

“The kitchen.”

Dean leaned against him as he let out a hearty laugh. Cas held him, joining in.

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

Name: Moon or Rose, sometimes Luna to people who have known me for a long time

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Height: I honestly can’t remember what they said last time they measured me an it wasn’t even “accurate” because slouching and hunching and scoliosis but my mother did it again when I was in bed and she had a tape measure and I’m 4′8 I think? :D

Languages: English

Nationality: Irish (American...Long Island)

Favorite Fruit: Rasberries, Strawberries, Pomegranate, Tomatos, Cherries

Favorite Sent: Roses, Fresh dirt, Gardens, plants and Flowers, any type of wood, rain, popcorn, Curry, (never actually tried but WANT TO) any type of hot beverage, any type of bake goods out the oven ..

Favorite colors: Black, purples and blues, ESPECIALLY the dark ones, any type greens ......... Also reds and pinks .......

Favorite Animal: Rat’s and rodents, always, ever since I was little ... Bats, Owls, bigger felines and canines (Lions, Tigers, Wolf’s, Etc.) Smaller Cats and Dogs, (Striped cats, fluffy cats, black cats, pit-bulls  and SPINX’S are my favorites cause those are the ones that I have expect for the last one) Frogs and toads too,... opossums,  chinchillas, squirrels, eye-eyes, pigs, rabbits, ravens, crows, in a certain way spiders, bees, moths, butterflies, fox’s, minks, lemurs....  skunks. flamingo’s, swans....lady bugs, crickets fireflies , goats....turtles, Gryphons ....(Far underrated and superior to dragons, this a fact not an opinion.)

And I’m about to admit this VERY, EXTREMELY begrudgingly and through my longest sigh ever but ... Deer? I just freaking. Wrote out an whole entire separate thing concerning my.... complicated perspective on deer and I had to copy and paste it into an entirely different document because I talked for way to long, but it’s gotten to the point where I have this desperate need to just ... vent of what this animal has become for me and what they mean to me, because this has currently became something that has made my heartache the more and more I’ve tried to pretend it does not effect me and I will say that it’s been a long time coming and as of recently I can no longer afford to avoid how much...So um. I’ve decided that this may be the year... That ...I am finally going to talk about this. Of course not like, right /now/ this minute ... But I will say in short that like, I live by a lot of deer and they’ve always been a part of my life for better or worse, and I could never really escape them or the part they’ve played in my life, hurting or healing, even if I wanted to. So, I say that, if I ever got the opportunity to observe one up close in my chair or feed a doe from my hand or hold a baby fawn or do anything like that with supervision in a moment, I totally would, in a heartbeat, without question. Even though from far away it hurts to think about the relationship I’ve had with them through who I was connected to. I refuse disrespect this animal just because someone who I loved who loved them hurt me once. Does that make sense? Sometimes.... Certain things that hurt you can also heal you. I’ve realized recently that I’m still not over how much I’ve been hurting. But that doesn’t mean that deer haven’t also, in their own way, been helping me heal. And I’m just thankful they exist for that because I’ve also learned through many narratives throughout the years, at in watching animation, how deer can have so many different sides to them and they don’t always have to be so interpreted as so “good” and “pure” and righteous and ...., ugh. As everyone projects to be, and I’ve always like to think that’s that’s helped keep a nuanced perspective of what’s happened to me throughout the years even as certain events were taking place and for that... I’ll always love and respect deer as an animal themself.  

As a character, trope though, I’ve always observed that they’ve always been these fucking, self important, entitled a-holes who always assume that they’re charming enough to deserve your time, and think they can just come and go in and out of your life as they please and are far too proud of themselves to admit  when they are wrong and will never apologize to you ever until they are pushed and until then, they just keep popping in and out of your life to vex and annoy you and ......

Mm.

Tastes like perspective.

Anyway, I’m writing something for later.

Maybe.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot.

First time sharing any inkling of my emotions about deer. 

I’m honestly so afraid about what this and the other post will entail for later, my other deer tail, if you will.

I’ll stop talking about deer before this gets weird.

You have no ideer......

Last pun until next post, promise.

Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate: My silly abled assistant worker got me addicted to coffee again before she had me institutionalized and soaking in my own piss for four days because she didn’t understand how hospitals worked, and then they cut her hours when she was about to abandon me in what was basically a nursing home for and after a month I started trying to explain to her and my caseworker that I wasn’t feeling very well and they basically laughed at me and told me I was dirty and so yeah I spent my 25th birthday in a nursing home with an infection that I didn’t know I had and then one of the staff yelled at me for allowing this nice hyper boy who lived there to help push my crappy black manual wheelchair (you know the one) and practically tossed me out of my wheelchair to get me to what she wanted and then accused me of soiling myself when she was removing my clothes for the shower when I was on the toilet and then started screaming at me again and accusing me of lying when I asked her why she thought I had an accident and then she slammed the door and abandoned me in the bathroom when I wouldn’t give her the answer that she wanted and then I had a breakdown ... So I decided to use my mom’s birthday as an excuse to come home and check what was going with me and get some real food and I told my assistant and my caseworker and they basically laughed at me and said was a bad idea and told me I was dirty again and then I was punished and taken home for being “rude” and “too emotional” but not before the assistant worker brought me some crappy bitter ass coffee flavored fudge when the rocky road was right next to it because she was some vegan ass “straight ally” one year younger then me with a 29 year old boyfriend millennial who “missed my birthday” and complained about how miserable I was and how wasn’t enjoying the pumpkin farm which she originally wasn’t even gonna take me through, because my caseworker insisted that she cancel plans and bring me back to the nursing home as punishment for calling my mother. So when she DID bring me back after arguing with me for being ungrateful enough to not enjoy a place that she didn’t even wanna take me, she left me parked on the living room carpet, instead of bringing back into the dining room where my laptop was set up, like she’d normally do, said “good luck with your mom”, and left. Then, it took me about an hour to wheel myself off of the carpet, find someone to help me to the bathroom, and get me the phone to call my mom back and tell her it was okay to pick me up.

I come home, discover I have a lump in my left breast which is benign but still hasn’t gone away, go to the doctor, and it turns out I had two infections. 

My mom seemed prepared to let me go back to the group home if I wanted to but after I told the doctor what happened with the staff worker the day after my birthday and the night before I called. The doctor told me that I wasn’t safe at the group home ether and ordered that I go back home with my mom and stay there.

So I’m back home now.

Two months. 

And of course my caseworker shit on me for THAT.

And of course she informed me that my assistant worker quit on me.

And I still haven’t spoken to my father since I’ve been back here.

And I still have the scar he gave me. 

And I’m still trying to ween myself off of coffee.

But before all of this my go to warm drinks were usual tea or hot chocolate. Sometimes hot chocolate with liquor.

My tongue went numb for a time because that was the first thing that I did non- stop each day for like four days after the day I finally finished my meds and my period hit immediately (which is already a whole other nightmare that I was dreading having to go through in a nursing home when everything already felt fucking inflamed and swollen and infected with already visible particles of dried up soap.... because.... it was ......) 

But like, yeah...... Tea and Hot Chocolate!  

Dream Trip: To have the opportunity to visit and interact with/get to know some queer cripple friends in person, and to visit my good friend @colorcinabrio in Mexico to travel round the world with them if ever given the chance! ❤

When Blog was created:

Somewhere around two years ago... I wanted to make blog that reflected my disability and really let me identify as a cripple and focused more focused more on cripple things and maybe make some cripple friends! ^ ^’  ❤

Last Movie Seen: That comes to mind that I actually enjoyed? The Favorite.

Favorite Holiday: I really love people’s birthday’s also and I always try and do something for my friends birthdays if I can! ^ ^  ❤

Songs on repeat: As of recently, ‘Fake Happy’, by Paramore.

 Tagged by @qjusttheletter

Tagging: @colorcinabrio @thetrainticket @finallyhaunted @thequantumqueer @rosered3 @isnezzed @purplepeoplelickingtruthpeddler @transplorer

Thank you so much for tagging me, Q! ^ ^’ ❤ I know it took a while to answer but as I said before I really did go on a deer tangent for a minute! ^ ^’ ❤ But being tagged by you brightened my day and  I know we don’t talk much directly but I really do think of you as a friend!!!! :D ❤ O.X

[eviesmyspiritanimal]

We Are Off to See the Wizard Part 4

Summary: Audrey's Annual Halloween Bash is coming up, and Evie has thought of a rather interesting costume idea for the Core Four. Several of their friends get pulled into the epiphany, too. It's super fluffy with Huma, Jaudrey, Bal, Jarlos, Core Four fluff, and Mal and Hades father/daughter feels.

  “Yeah, sure I know how to cook. Good grief, stupid brain! Why did you make me say that?!” Celia cried, her eyes wide as she skittered back and forth between ovens. Her normally very unruly hair was pulled back into a ponytail so that it would fall into whatever food she was working on.

  “Besides all that, what possessed her to even ask me to do it? She ought to know that I don’t know anything about baking stuff,” Celia ranted aloud, expressing her thoughts.

  She popped open one of the ovens to see if she could smell anything that was getting a little too crispy. To her utmost delight, absolutely nothing seemed to be burning. Thankfully everything seemed to be under control with this cake, unlike her previous disaster with the cupcakes.

  Celia skipped over to the other oven that was cooking another cake. It appeared to be good so far except for the fact that the cake had weird potholes in it. Of course, she did have a few problems with that one when she was mixing the batter.

  As soon as she was mostly sure that nothing was burning inside the ovens, she grinned in relief as she headed back over to work on the cupcakes.

  Celia licked her lips at the sight of the delicious chocolate confections sitting there on the counter. However, she frowned at the sight of a lone eggshell poking out of the baked deliciousness. She surreptitiously looked around- not that there was anyone there to see her anyway- and poked the eggshell so that it was hidden in the midst of the cupcake.

  “There! No one will be any the wiser!” Celia told herself, satisfied with the somewhat singed baked treats before her. “Now I just gotta decorate ‘em.”

  Celia headed over for the icing tubes and the sprinkles that Audrey had left for her to use. She examined each of the colors of icing, trying to decide which one Audrey would like. After a moment, she shrugged, grabbing all of them and placing them on the counter nearby her workspace.

  “Welp, can’t go wrong with every color there is,” Celia shrugged before gathering all the sprinkle colors, too.

  Celia launched into her cupcake decorating, but as she squirted the first dollop on the cupcake, couldn’t help but wonder what it would taste like. So she tilted her head back and opened her mouth before squeezing the icing above her so that it fell between her teeth.

  As soon as it hit her tongue, it was like heaven reinvented into squirtable décor for wonderful confections. Celia eagerly swallowed the frosting and opened her mouth for another enormously huge portion of the stuff.

  It was delectably irresistible and so, so sweet.

  After a moment, however, she didn’t feel anymore icing coming out of the tube and falling into her waiting piehole. Celia opened her eyes and disappointedly noted that she was out of the pink frosting.

  She furrowed her brow, but quickly decided that she wanted to try sprinkles, because if the frosting was that good, then the sprinkles just had to be to die for.

  Celia popped open the container and shook it so that she could chew a healthy amount of the small specks. To her disappointment, they weren’t quite as good as the icing was, but they still weren’t too bad. She eagerly indulged in a few more shakes before finally deciding that she probably needed to start working on the cupcakes.

  “Hey, Ce-Ce. What’re you doing?” Dizzy suddenly popped into the kitchen with her usual bouncy excitement and happiness and Celia grinned widely at her, her earlier idea about actually doing what Audrey asked her to completely evaporating from her mind.

  “Dizz, you have got to try this!” Celia excitedly told her, grabbing the tube of green icing and meeting the Tremaine halfway across the room.

  “Ooh, what’s that?” Dizzy questioned, and Celia just raised an eyebrow at her with a sly smirk.

  “You’ll see. Open up,” Celia instructed, and Dizzy easily complied. She held the tube over Dizzy’s mouth and squeezed firmly, mounds upon mounds of icing falling down into the hatch.

  Celia pulled back and watched expectantly as Dizzy’s whole face lit up in a monstrous grin as she looked at the tube dreamily.

  “That’s magic,” Dizzy replied with a positively enchanted expression on her face as she swallowed the icing.

  “Bibbidi-bobbidi, you know it,” Celia joked and they both laughed.

  “Oh, and by the way, I even have eggshells in the cupcakes. I know Auradonians don’t like them, but I thought it might do them good. Maybe give them a little character,” Celia suggested as she walked over to the cupcakes with Dizzy.

  “Definitely! They’re full of calcium goodness.”

  “So I’m helping people by pushing in the eggshells so they can’t see them? Celia for the win-win!” Celia whooped in happiness and Dizzy giggled in response, nodding emphatically. Celia frowned after a moment, though, reaching over and pushing in yet another eggshell she noticed.

  “Hey, Dizzy, help me out here and hide these eggshells in the cupcakes,” Celia told her.

  “Why don’t you just take them out if they’re going to be that much trouble?” Dizzy questioned.

  “Because I’m afraid that there’s entirely too many in them to even consider getting all of them out,” Celia answered somewhat sheepishly. Dizzy shrugged in response, moving over to help her push them in.

  However, after a moment, Dizzy sniffed a bit, furrowing her brow in thought.

   “Umm… What’s that burning smell?” Dizzy innocently asked. Celia’s eyes went comically wide as she rushed over to the nearest oven. As soon as she opened it, black smoke came pouring out of the appliance. Dizzy hurried to the other oven and opened it, too, another wave of smog coming out as she took a cloth and pulled the cake out of the oven.

  Both girls were coughing hard as they tried to fan away the stench of the charred cakes. Dizzy finally had the thought to open up a nearby window, and the smoke eagerly slipped by her and out of the newly opened crevice.

  “What is going on in here?!” a high-pitched voice screeched, and Celia hacked extra violently upon the realization that it was Audrey standing there not too far from her.

  “My biscuits are burning,” Celia tried, flashing the very miffed pink princess a huge toothy grin in an attempt to dispel at least a bit of the anger that was brewing just beneath the surface of the other girl. It worked for a moment as Audrey considered the colloquial meaning for biscuits, but the anger quickly returned full force as she got another whiff of the smoke.

  “Well, what about the cakes?!” Audrey demanded, and Celia jumped a bit, giggling somewhat maniacally as she tried to maneuver herself between Audrey and the crisps that were just behind her.

  “They’re fine. Well-done, just how everybody likes them!” Celia informed her, full of false cheeriness as Audrey drew nearer. Celia leaned back further, hoping that Audrey wouldn’t just sidestep her and see just how badly burnt the cakes were.

  Audrey’s eyes narrowed and she snapped her fingers, pointing to the side in a firm command. Celia looked at her for just a moment before darting to the side.

  Audrey gasped in complete horror at the blackened confections there on the counter.

  “Oh, come on! They aren’t that bad!” Celia told her and Audrey spun around to face the younger girl, the anger coming off of her in waves. Celia grinned guiltily.

  “Well, they aren’t as bad as they look… Maybe? Dunno?” Celia giggled under her breath, knowing she was going to get chewed up and spit out.

  “Why in the world didn’t you tell me that you can’t cook?!” Audrey demanded.

  “Really? You didn’t already know that? Are you forgetting that the Isle was lacking in a lot of ways and the daughter of the Shadow Man probably isn’t going to know how to cook up a bunch of tastiness?” Dizzy piped up suddenly and Celia facepalmed as Audrey’s wrath was turned to the other girl. Dizzy winced, realizing just how bad of an idea that it was to talk while Audrey was on the warpath.

  “Okay, sorry about that… I’m just gonna leave now,” Dizzy told her as she edged away and out the door.

  “What were you telling me exactly? Any idiot can cook?” Audrey checked with the shorter girl her hands on her hips and Celia sighed defeatedly as an ultimately guilty and remorseful look took over her features.

  “I’m sorry… I just… I guess I wanted to be able to help you out and do something good. Y’know, to show that I really am an Auradon girl now,” Celia explained herself, fully ashamed of her lies.

  Audrey sighed deeply, closing her eyes and conjuring every bit of patience that she had left in her. This whole party was really leaving her completely fried, but she really did feel bad for the poor girl.

  So, when she opened her eyes again, she offered Celia a benevolent, kind smile in hopes of exhibiting her sympathy for the Facilier’s plight rather than her frustration at the setback.

  “It’s okay. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It’ll all be fine. I’ll just order something really quick from the bakery down the street,” Audrey reassured her, placing a hand on Celia’s shoulder and squeezing gently.

  “So you’re not mad at me?” Celia questioned with an innocence that was strangely suiting for the little imp. Audrey huffed, bringing her into a somewhat hesitant side-hug. This having actual real friends that really cared thing was very different for her, and she wasn’t completely sure how to interact properly.

  “No. Now you go on and have fun. Get dressed up. I’m sure Evie has something planned,” Audrey smiled kindly at her, and watched as the girl skipped out of the room happily.

  When she was gone, however, Audrey’s grin melted away quickly and she put her face in her hand with her other hand poised on her hip.

  “Boy, I really hope they’re still open on a holiday.”

[jadekitty777]

Troika - Chapter 3: To Speak Good

Troika - (Noun) Russian in origin, meaning “set of three” or “three of a kind”. It is a three-way dance between people.

Summary: Taiyang has a bad dream, Qrow has homesickness and James has a headache. Not necessarily in that order.Or, a series of snapshot events at different times of this trio’s relationship together.

Rating: T

Pairing: James/Qrow/Taiyang

AO3 Link: Chapter 3

Note: There’s one more after this, and then the story is done!

~

If someone told Qrow five years ago that he’d one day call Atlas his home, he would have laughed.

If that same someone added he’d do it entirely for James Ironwood, he would have told the guy he was more drunk than him.

Now, with the general dozing in the seat beside him and the tall white buildings that encompassed the upper streets of Atlas growing closer as the airship reached its port, he figured he probably owed that imaginary guy a round or two.

They’d both been gone a few months – he on a mission and James on security detail duty for this year’s Vytal Festival, as he often was. Both conveniently put them in Vacuo, so once he’d finished cleaning up an infestation of Grimm in the lower quadrant, he headed to the city, enjoying the rest of his time away with the other man. James was a bit too rigid to really appreciate the less reputable side of the kingdom which was rot with gambling and underground fight rings, so Qrow improvised, taking him to sand-sailing races and hiking trails instead. It was the walk through the hollowed-out mines, once filled with Dust and now left glittering with natural minerals and stalagmites that kaleidoscoped colors across the stone, that truly fascinated the elder man to the point he wanted to explore every inch of it. Rarely seeing him so boyishly eager, Qrow was happy to oblige even long after his feet were aching from standing too much.

It was all worth it if only for the moment he watched James place his hand against one of the crystals, awash in a gentle blue hue from the reflecting light, and Qrow couldn’t help but correlate the likeness of his lover to this place: that even if parts had been forever lost or broken, what remained was even more beautiful.

Of course, he never said it out loud. Spouting poetic nonsense like that was more Tai’s thing.

Qrow had gotten a chance to see his eldest niece too. She, along with Blake and some of the other kids from the old crew, were on a march across Vacuo with the restructured White Fang, hoping to spread awareness on Faunus civil rights using peaceful protest. They’d chosen to complete their pilgrimage at the crux of the festival, knowing the streets would be crowded from the event and the news reels would be more likely to headline their efforts.

So, mostly, Qrow stood in the thin shade of a light pole in a poor attempt to hide from the burning sun, holding up a sign and letting Yang talk his ear off. She had been so happy, animatedly recounting all the sights and cultures she had seen, all the strange foods she had tried, every new place bringing a new excitement. All of it wasn’t pleasant of course. They’d met a lot of opposition on their travels throughout Remnant that she mostly alluded to, but he couldn’t help but swell with pride as he realized his niece had found her way into following her dreams of being both an adventurer and a hero.

He stretched out his arms up above his head, hearing the slight crack of joints stiff from sitting too long, before he placed a hand on James’ metal shoulder, giving him a slight shake. As he started to rouse, Qrow said, “Time to wake up, Rin Tin Tin.”

Blue eyes blinked at him blearily, saying sleepily, “How do you even know that reference?”

“You have met Tai, right? If you think he didn’t own the deluxe boxset and spent every summer vacation watching it, you’d be very wrong.” He said in way of explanation, feeling the shift of gravity as the airship started to descend for a landing.

“I didn’t, because he doesn’t own it.”

“Not anymore.” Qrow said. “Someone accidentally put it in the fireplace.”

“You did not.” There wasn’t an ounce of belief in that retort.

He grinned cheekily, “You’ll never know.”

James eyed him critically. “Well, you’ll be disappointed to know I did find the send button on my scroll.”

“Jimmy, you’ve evolved! What’s next old man? Using the coffee maker?” He snickered as the other reached out and shoved him.

“Oh, shut up.”

He saluted him. But, after a few seconds of silence, said, “Permission to speak, sir?”

James had a better poker face than most, but even he was struggling not to smile. “Denied.”

“Rude, sir.” He considered it a personal victory when he heard the other laugh softly.

“Come on, cadet.” The man said as the plane jerked on its landing. “I’ve got to drop some stuff off at my office, but we can stop at the café first, alright?”

He responded with another little salute. “Sir, yes sir!”

~

Qrow sipped lukewarm coffee from the plastic cup as he watched the man who had bought it for him putter about his office, putting away some last-minute documents that he’d have to organize properly when he was next there. Back before they were dating, he used to ruthlessly tease James about how much of a workaholic he was, until the other eventually told him that he wasn’t the one who once spent literal years out on the field for his own profession. It had been one of the few times someone had managed to make him pause and actually think.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard a variation of it before – how the war was over. How he could take a break every now and again. But it was the way James said it, reminding him that years of his life were just gone, that struck a chord with him and suddenly he understood he’d missed so much. He would never get to be at Yang’s graduation ceremony from Signal as the fiery blond cheered. He would never be able to capture the moment Ruby came home, shouting with joy over her early acceptance to Beacon. Hell, he’d never get to see that stupid, goofy smile Tai probably had when he adopted Zwei. The more he thought, the more the key events piled up, the more seriously he considered removing his name out of the Huntsman rotation permanently.

He never did, but he did lessen his prominence in the roster significantly.

So there he was, in the middle of restoration efforts for Vale city, trying to redefine his life choices, when James walks up to him and says, “Why don’t we go get some coffee?”

He hadn’t really grasped the implications when he agreed until he actually had the cup in his hands and was sitting across from the other. “Jimmy-boy, did you just ask me out on a date?”

“That was my intention, yes.”

“Oh.” And maybe it was because, after having worked together in close quarters for months as the war came to an end, he’d found that he didn’t dislike James nearly as much as he used to or maybe it was because he just wanted to have something he hadn’t allowed himself in years, that he found himself tacking on, “Well good.”

And that was the start of their relationship.

Now, as he sipped on the bitter, overshot brew and realized years had passed since that moment, he found himself not regretting the choice.

“So, we’ll be home within the hour.” James said as he shoved a few more papers into his desk.

“Sounds great!” Was the chipper reply from Tai, voice a bit crackly from being on speaker. “Either of you two hungry? I can make dinner.”

When that blue-eyed gaze turned to him questionably, Qrow called, “Something light.”

“Yeah. It was a long flight.” The general agreed.

“No problem. I can’t wait to hear all about your trip.”

With it being so early in the semester at Apollo Academy, Tai wasn’t able to get the vacation needed to join them. Not that he really wanted to abandon his class for that long anyways. Apollo was a small, secondary school designed to support smaller classrooms for children with special needs, such as amputees. Having a daughter and a lover both living with permanent prosthetics, it had sparked the man’s interest in helping others learn how to cope with their new body parts and reach a sense of normalcy again. While looking for work after he’d lost his former job following the whole newscast fiasco, he’d barely paused to think when he applied at the institute.

Watching Tai whoop and holler as he danced around the house after he’d gotten accepted for the position, Qrow could have sworn his friend was twenty again.

James closed another cabinet. “We’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah.” There was a smile in Tai’s voice as he added warmly, “I missed you guys.”

Qrow ducked behind his coffee as he smiled. James, who had paused to stare down at the phone, didn’t bother hiding his own as he said, “Yeah, us too.”

~

As he walked into their home, the first thing Qrow noticed was the smell of something sweet in the air that told him there was some confectionary baking in the oven. “We’re home!” He announced as he held the door for James, who came into the house with their luggage and carefully shuffled around Zwei who, despite his age, still found the energy to joyfully dart around his peoples’ legs whenever they got back.

There was a whistle, Tai standing in the alcove leading to the kitchen, “Zwei, come on buddy. You’re gonna make him trip.”

“It’s fine.” He said, lifting his square suitcase higher when, without warning, the clasp broke and a few weeks’ worth of clothing spilled out over the floor. The lump of dog underneath the clothing shifted and then he was popping his head back up, a pair of plaid briefs on his head.

When James sent a disgruntled look his way, Qrow shrugged, “Hey don’t blame me! I told you to replace that old thing years ago.”

“I still blame you.”

Laughing, their blond lover walked over, unearthing the rest of his poor corgi first before he started to gather up the clothes. James knelt down, seemingly to help, until his hand caught the younger’s wrist and, when he looked up, lent forward to press their lips together. Tai gave a gentle hum, smiling as he wound an arm over the other’s shoulders. They might have stayed like that awhile, if not for the buzzer from the kitchen that pulled them apart.

“Oh, that’s the dessert.”

“I got it.” Qrow said, giving Tai a wink as he passed on by.

“Well,” The wisecrack followed him, “There was dessert at least.”

He could hear the softness of their voices continue on as he entered the kitchen where he was definitely not planning on stealing pieces of whatever confectionary Tai had decided to make. He found the mitts as he pulled open the oven door, and at first, he thought they were cupcakes, until he lifted them out and brought the tray into the light to discover they were actually muffins.

Huh. Today was just full of ironic food choices.

He set it down on the cooling rack and flicked off the oven, before giving the area a look over. Tai, whether it be on the team, in the family or in their relationship, had remained the cook – so his little haven was pristinely clean except for the vestiges of where dinner was being made. There was something shimmering on the stove and, when he lent forward to look through the glass top, saw it was soup – chicken noodle, he guessed. Lettuce, freshly cut and washed, sat in a strainer. On a cutting board, shredded carrots and radishes that were probably going to be mixed in to make a simple salad. The tea kettle puffed out steam where it sat on the counter; he’d bet every lien he had that it was Jasmine. Their table had already been set; wooden chopsticks by his and Tai’s plates and more durable, metal ones for James.

By the time he was peeling off the paper liner from one of the muffins, his best friend was back, rolling his eyes at him. “Really?”

“It’s what you get for baiting me.” He replied before taking a huge bite.

Tai chuckled, before he went back to making dinner, dicing the rest of the radishes. As he worked, Qrow destroyed the rest of his muffin in a few quick bites, then sidled up next to the other. The knife slowed, the blonde observing him from the corner of his eye. “Can I help you?”

“Well I was thinking,” He started, dancing his fingers along the other’s back, but trailed off when the other jolted away. “Uh, you alright?”

Tai flushed a bit. “Yeah, sorry. That surprised me.”

“Geez, you’re getting old too.”

“Make more jokes like that and I’m hiding the rest of the muffins.”

“Forgive me!” Qrow rested a hand over his heart overdramatically, falling against the other’s shoulder. “For I know not what I say!”

His friend tried his best not to snicker but his grin was untamable. He set down the knife in favor of winding his toned arms around him, bringing them flush together. Tai pecked fond, little kisses along his face, until finally he got to his lips, lingering there. Qrow’s eyes slid shut, leaning in to the caress as he raked his hands through blond hair.

It was the hissing of the overflowing pot that drew Tai away this time. “Ah damn it,” He cursed softly before hurrying over to lift the pot off the burner.

Qrow lent back against the counter, watching him as he pulled off the top, letting the steam out to cool the angrily bubbling liquid. His eyes wandered a bit, pausing curiously on the patch of reddened skin around the edges of the heart tattoo. “Your arm…”

“Huh?” Tai glanced at him, then followed his gaze down to his own still-healing skin. “Oh yeah; I got it touched up, remember?”

“Thought you said you were doing that a few weeks ago?”

He shrugged, turning away to stir the soup. “Well, yeah but Ruby wanted to come with me. So, I postponed.”

That took a minute to compute. “Wait. Did you convince my niece to get a tattoo?”

“No, no.” He was grinning almost manically as he pointed the spoon his way. “She convinced Weiss to get one.”

That revelation took longer, but when it did, Qrow’s eyes bulged. “What!? Ice princess got some ink?!”

“Please tell me Winter doesn’t know.” They both glanced over at James as he entered the room, looking weary already. “Otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it on Monday.”

“Well, it’s not exactly in a discreet place, unless she’s wearing a long dress or really tall boots.”

“Just perfect,” Was the sigh of defeat.

Qrow started to guffaw. “So it’s on her leg? What is it?”

“A red rose with the stem wrapping around her ankle. It’s quite pretty actually.” Tai said, sounding almost fond. Whether it simply be for the art of tattoos or over his unofficial daughter-in-law, it was a little hard to tell. “Anyways!” He reached up to pull down some bowls. “Dinner’s pretty much done. Qrow will you pour the tea?”

“You got it.”

As the day faded to evening and the three of them enjoyed dinner together for the first time in nearly five weeks, Qrow felt a familiar wash of calm overcome him. He had missed this: a dog dozing under the table at their feet and them talking about their day. James recounting somewhat irritably about how lack his security team was. Tai excitedly detailing how well the students from his class were doing. Qrow chiming in about the highlights from the festival.

And when James finally remembered to ask, “By the way, what happened to your copy of Rin Tin Tin?”

And Tai answered, “Oh. Qrow was drunk one night and thought the trees on the cover were firewood, so he put it in the fireplace.”

Qrow couldn’t stop laughing, feeling more at home than ever before.

~~~

A/N: So, if anyone is wondering about the chapter titles, I was looking for another “set of three” idea to name them after. While looking for ideas, I found out three is a really common number in a lot of religious practices – and I stumbled upon Zoroastrianism. One of the philosophies is just like the titles of the chapters – Thinking good, acting good and speaking good will lead to a good life. There’s a lot more to it of course, but that’s a basic principle on their lifestyle.

I realized the chapters aligned pretty well with these ideas, so I went with it.

Chapter 1 is all about good action. It certainly fits James and his disciplined nature the most but Qrow and Tai both have their moments on debating “what the right thing to do” is.

Chapter 2 is focused around good thinking, hence Tai’s many bracketed thoughts in which he’s trying to fight his poor psyche with better views (I actually added a few when I decided on the chapter title). Likewise, Qrow’s own thoughts are a bit see-sawed while James is the reassurance.

Chapter 3 has the weakest connection, because Qrow himself is not a “good” speaker seeing as I depicted him struggling with expressing himself and the plot definitely revolved around a “slice of life” style story. The entire decision basically comes down to the ending – where he finds the most peace and happiness in the simple act of talking around the dinner table with James and Tai.

Now, there’s only one chapter left, but don’t worry, I have a great title in mind! Stay tuned, it’ll be up within a week!

[justlookfrightened]

Puppy steps

This is to fill a prompt from @tibean2992. I have one more prompt I’m working on, but if anyone has any other zimbits prompts, please send them along!

Also, it got pretty long, so most of it is under a cut.

It hit Bitty’s nose first.

He unlocked the door to the condo, picked up the reusable grocery bags from his feet and shouldered the door open and was assaulted by the smell.

He groaned and put the bags in the kitchen, barely pausing to note the empty dog crate that stood there, and followed the odor to the guest bedroom. Whose rug was now decorated with a literal steaming pile of crap.

Lord.

“Belinda!” he called.

No response.

He went looking and found the dog sitting in the master bedroom, facing the door, just waiting for him. Her brown eyes were warm and her forehead was furrowed slightly, as though she was worried or confused.

Bitty forced himself to take a deep breath. Through his mouth.

Seeing that the dog (puppy, he reminded himself) did not appear sick and was not currently engaged in act of destruction helped him calm down, and he remembered not to scold the dog for something that probably happened, what, maybe 15 minutes ago? The crap was still steaming after all.

Instead, he tried to keep his tone neutral as he said, “And just what were you doing loose in the house by yourself? Did you use those big eyes on Jack and make him feel too guilty to put you in your crate before he left for practice? I swear, I am going to have to have a talk with that boy. Again. For now, let me clean up and we can take it right to the dumpster when we head out for our walk.”

Belinda, with her gangly legs and broad shoulders, heard the word walk and popped up, butting the backs of his legs with her head as he fetched paper towels, a scrub brush, a plastic bag and disinfectant.

“Nope, you’re just gonna have to wait, Belly,” Bitty said.

He cleaned up thoroughly, then put on his coat and hat and snapped Belinda’s pink harness around her chest and shoulders. Jack hadn’t looked thrilled at the choice, but Bitty overruled him.

“First, it looks great against her black coat,” he’d said. “Second, she’s a six-month-old, obnoxious, rambunctious pit bull, Jack, and she’s not going to do anything but grow. You know she’s sweet and affectionate, and I know she’s sweet and affectionate, but a lot of people will look at her and think she’s vicious just because.”

Belinda had been with them for three months now, and mostly she was doing fine, Bitty thought. But she still couldn’t always be trusted alone in the house, and she would eat anything put in front of her, and some things not put in front of her. Bitty’s work at training her to walk nicely on her leash was paying dividends, at least most of the time, and by now, nearly all the people in the building were happy to see her.

If only Jack were as easy to train.

******************************

The scent of dinner bubbling on the stove drew Jack into the kitchen as soon as he got home. Bits was at the counter cutting apples while the chicken stew simmered and Belinda sat at his feet, looking up to make sure she caught any pieces that happened to fall.

Jack stepped up behind Bitty and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Smells good,” he said. “But isn’t it a little late to start a pie?”

“Hush your mouth,” Bitty said. “It’s never too late to make pie.”

“I guess I was hoping it was for dessert,” Jack said, stooping over to scratch behind Belinda’s ears. “How are you, baby girl?”

Bitty harrumphed and said, “It is for dessert, and it’s not pie. I’m making a cobbler than can bake while we’re eating.”

“Sounds good,” Jack said. “Want me to set the table?”

“You didn’t ask why I’m making cobbler instead of pie,” Bitty said.

“Ok, Jack said. “Why cobbler instead of pie?”

“Because I didn’t have time for pie because when I got home from the market, Belinda was not in her crate,” he said. “She was in our bedroom. The pile of poop she left was in the guest bedroom.”

“Merde,” Jack said.

“Precisely,” Bitty said. “I had to clean the rug, and air the place out, and now you don’t get pie. What will it take to get you to put Belinda in her crate? She’s safer there, where there are no wires or anything to chew on, and she doesn’t have accidents there.”

“I know, I know,” Jack said. “But she doesn’t like it, and I was gone all last week, and I don’t want to be the guy who just locks her in the cage. Besides, you were only going to be out another hour or so.”

Bitty shook his head and muttered something Jack couldn’t quite hear, although he thought he heard the word “children.”

“She doesn’t like being separated from us,” Bitty said. “If you’re going out anyway, she’ll settle right down and go to sleep. Which she also needs to do because she’s still a growing girl. If you leave her out, she finds ways to amuse herself, and she gets herself in trouble, Jack. She could hurt herself.”

When Jack went down the hall toward the bedrooms to change, he detected the faint scent of disinfectant.

“Belinda, ma belle, you can’t do that,” he said to the dog, who was following him. “If you can’t behave, you are going to have to stay in the crate when you’re alone. Bitty’s right.”

Bitty was usually right, Jack reflected. But they had agreed on adopting Belinda.

It had been Jack’s idea to get a dog. He was gone so much during the season, and Bitty spent so much time on his own. Bitty had gotten a job as a communications and marketing consultant for non-profits, but it was based in Boston and Bits worked four days a week out of the condo. He was also putting together a cookbook for a small publisher – Jack’s parents had taken to promoting Bitty’s vlog on their own social media accounts, his subscription numbers had soared, and people started taking notice. Bitty hadn’t gotten any advance on the book, but he’d been thrilled to have an actual publisher interested.

Jack was glad things were going well for Bitty, but Bitty's commitments meant that most of his social interaction when Jack was gone was over the internet. Sure, sometimes he took his laptop to the coffeeshop on the corner, but Bitty should have more regular company.

And Bitty had been eager once Jack suggested getting a dog. He’d pulled up the websites for a few local shelters that very evening, and started reading up on their adoption requirements.

Jack had been just as excited; he’d always wanted a dog when he was growing up, but his mother had always said no because they all traveled so much, and he was too young to take proper care of a pet anyway. Then he’d gone into Q and lived in a billet and, well, it was just never right. But now he was settled, and Bitty was there, and it seemed like the perfect time.

A week of so after they started looking at the websites, a young beagle mix appeared on one of them. He was adorable, not tiny, but not too big, active. And his name was Stanley. It seemed like fate.

But Jack had a roadie, and the shelter required everyone in the household to come in to adopt a dog, so they couldn’t go in for another five days. The day after Jack got home, Bitty checked the website while Jack was at morning skate, and Stanley was still listed as being available. When they arrived and asked about him, though, they were told that he had gone home with his new family only an hour earlier.

Jack was ready to leave, but Bitty wanted to walk through the dog room “just to see.” At that point, Jack had been pretty sure they’d be leaving with a dog.

The first one Jack’s eyes lit on was a smaller mutt, probably part spaniel, with a white and light brown coat and spritely way of jumping up on the door of her cage. Bitty looked longingly at a husky with dramatic coloring and icy blue eyes, but he dragged his eyes away when Jack said, “Those dogs need miles of walks or runs each day. Not really made for a condo.”

“Yeah,” Bitty said. “And imagine the shedding.”

Then they had seen Belinda, curled on the low bed in her cage with a stuffed toy between her legs. When they made eye contact, her brow had furrowed and she got up and came to the door. As soon as Bitty put his hand down, she licked his fingers and Jack had asked the shelter volunteer to get Belinda out so they could play with her.

She’d been theirs ever since. But really, Jack thought, Bitty’s. Bitty couldn’t sit on the couch without Belinda curling up against his side, usually snuffling at his neck or ear before she settled down. Jack knew she slept on his side of the bed when he was gone. She liked Jack, he knew she did, but if Belinda had an alpha, it was Bitty.

Jack went back to the kitchen and laid the table while Bitty slid the cobbler in the oven and pulled the salad from the fridge.

Then Jack poured water for both of them while Bitty carried the stew to the table. They both sat down, and Jack felt Belinda lie down under the table, her head on his foot.

“You’d best not be planning to feed her under the table,” Bitty said.

“A bite of chicken won’t kill her,” Jack said.

“No, but it will make her try to wheedle food out of every person who sits at our table. Do you want her doing that to Tater, or to your parents?”

“They wouldn’t mind,” Jack said.

“Mine would,” Bitty said. “If they ever visit. It’s like Coach says about his boys: It’s easier to teach them good habits to start than break bad habits later.”

Jack didn’t quite know how to answer that, but he didn’t have to. Bitty looked down at his plate and up again. “Oh my Lord,” he said. “I just quoted Coach.”

Jack chuckled. “I know,” he said. “But he’s right, so I guess you are too. I just want her to like me.”

“She does like you,” Bitty said.

“But she’s always with you,” Jack said. “And she’s really attached to you, which is good, but …”

Jack stopped, because it sounded silly to even say it. He just wanted to be part of it, instead of like an outsider.

“But what?” Bitty asked. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just, you two spend so much time together,” Jack said. “She looks at you like you created roast beef. You talk to her in that baby voice and let her lick your face all the time.”

“Are you jealous?” Bitty asked. “Really? You’re the one who wanted a dog in the first place. And I’m the one who walks her and feeds her and cleans up after her and tries to train her. Of course she’s attached to me! And of course I’m attached to her – she’s adorable! Have you seen her?”

“I know, Bits,” Jack said. “And I’m glad. Really. Never mind me. I’ll be better.”

Bitty was looking at him.

“No,” he said. “I mean, yes, by all means put her in her crate instead of leaving her loose, and if you want to give her a treat, do it away from the table. But don’t just act like how you feel doesn’t matter. I know you care about her just as much as I do. And you did so much research before we brought her home – if it wasn’t for that article you found I’d have had no idea dogs can’t have grapes. I guess it’s just the way it is right now – but your season will end eventually, and then we can divide up the work a little more. It’ll be fine.”

Jack started eating in earnest then, finally feeling like he’d been absolved of his guilt. After dinner, Bitty went into the office to get a little work done while Jack cleaned up the kitchen, and gave Belinda a few morsels of chicken in her dish.

Later that night, once he had crawled in bed next to Bitty, once Belinda had hopped off the bed and lay on the blanket near the bedroom door, Bitty curled into his side and kissed his shoulder. “I’m sorry if I made you feel left out,” Bitty said. “Tell you what. You can have all the … affection … you want from me. Right now or whenever. And if you need some bonding time with Belinda, well, you can have the early morning walk tomorrow.”

[castielhasthetardis]

Denial

*GIF IS NOT MINE I found it on Google*

Summary:  Can I request reader x Gabriel/cas where the reader can see his wings and know it means that she's he's soulmate but she thinks it's a mistake/he won't want her for a soulmate so she doesn't say anything?, Then maybe one day Gabriel/cas notices she's looking behind him, or she sees an injury on his wings and reacts or something and he finds out? (Requested by Anon)

Characters: Gabriel x Reader, Sam, Dean, Cas, Bobby (all just mentioned).

Warnings: Fluff, tiny bit of angst, tiny bit of cursing (I think that’s all?)

Word Count: ~1500

A/N: As usual, shoutout to Amanda for reading this over and giving me the validation I require to function. Thanks, girl.  Also, shameless promotion of my Bring Gabriel Back petition. If you’re reading this, you probably love Gabriel. So go sign it. Please. Link to the petition is HERE

You were sitting in the library of the bunker, one of Bobby’s angel lore books open on the table in front of you. Dean was out getting supplies and breakfast, Sam was out for his morning jog, and, as far as you knew, Cas was in heaven. The bunker was blissfully quiet, and you intended to enjoy it for as long as you could. Your expertise on angels was born out of stories your dad used to tell you as a kid. He was one of the few optimistic hunters that believed in angels. When he died, you were only nine years old, so Bobby, who had been friends with your dad, took you in. As you grew up, you became obsessed with angels. It was all you had left of your dad, so you poured yourself into every book on them you could find. Bobby also taught you how to research and how to hunt.

You’d become something of a research expert, which is why the boys had asked you to drive over from your home in Northeastern Missouri. You did just that. Now here you sat, skimming your book, waiting for them to return from their morning routines. A flutter of wings caused you to glance up from the pages. “Hey there, cupcake. Whatcha readin’?” Gabriel asked as he sat himself down next to you. Since meeting the Winchesters, Gabriel had become a good friend of yours. He’d let you ask him questions about angels, and he listened when you wanted to talk about your father. In return, you made sure your pantry was stocked with all sorts of sweets to indulge him with. He preferred your baking over the things he snapped up, apparently.

“Just an old lore book. The boys needed my research skills to figure out what was causing a string of random deaths in Dodge City. I figured it out about an hour ago, right after they both left. Banshee. Now, I’m just waiting for them to get back to give them the good news.” You smirked at your archangel best friend and closed the book in front of you. “Did you need something, Gabe?” You asked, trying very hard not to look at the golden feathers peeking out from behind his back. You had noticed Gabriel’s wings a long time ago, back when you’d first met him. Being an expert in angel lore, you knew what that meant, but you never said anything to him or anyone. Gabriel was an archangel and, while he loved humanity more than most angels, that didn’t mean he’d be happy about having a human soulmate. So, you carried on as if you’d never seen his wings.

           “Where are those two yahoos and my little brother anyway?” Gabe asked, pulling a lollipop out of his jacket pocket, unwrapping it, and popping it in his mouth. You smiled at that and stood, motioning for him to follow you.

           “Sam’s out jogging, Dean is getting supplies in town, and, I assume, Cas is in heaven.” You called over your shoulder as you walked towards the kitchen. Gabriel followed you with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

           “Where ya going, sugar?” He asked from behind you, as he snapped his lollipop away. You just smirked over your shoulder as you walked into the kitchen and pulled the freshly baked chocolate cake out of the oven. You’d finished icing it not too long before Gabriel had arrived and you’d kept it in the oven until he inevitably showed up. His eyes lit up as he snapped up two plates and cut a slice for each of you. He handed you a plate and you traded him a fork for it. You sat up on the counter and watched him eat for a moment. You admired how bright his eyes were, how soft his hair looked, but you didn’t dare glance at the beautiful golden wings that were tucked against his back. It was true you had it bad for the archangel, but you never let on. To the rest of the world, he was just your closest friend. You were happy with that. At least that’s what you told yourself.

Gabriel waved a hand in front of your face as he set his now empty plate in the sink. “Earth to Y/N, anybody home?” He smirked as you blinked, snapping out of your reverie. “You gonna eat that? Because if you’re not, I will. Not going to let your famous chocolate cake go to waste.” You rolled your eyes and handed him your plate. You weren’t really all that hungry.

“I’m gonna go back to the library and do some more research. I don’t get much access to the Men of Letters library, so I’m taking full advantage. If you want, you can join me once you finish inhaling that cake.” You announced, hopping down from the counter and walking away. With your back turned, you didn’t notice Gabe smirking appreciatively at your ass as your hips naturally swayed with each step. Once you were almost around the corner, you stopped and Gabriel quickly looked away. Confident he wasn’t paying attention, you allowed yourself a tiny peak at his wings. You bit your lip gently as you took in the sight. His wings were mostly golden but faded to a deeper, almost brownish color at the bottom. It was the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen. As quickly as you’d looked, you turned away again and rushed back to the library before he noticed.

But, he had noticed. He’d still been watching you out of the corner of his eye, curious as to why you’d stopped but not wanting to get caught looking at your ass. He noticed how your eyes lingered, not on him, but on something behind him, and that’s when he realized, there was nothing behind him but his wings. He abandoned his second plate of cake and rushed to catch up with you in the library. You had just sat down when he followed you in. He sat and propped his feet up on the table, grabbing a book on banshees from the pile you’d made earlier and starting to read. You raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why he’d abandoned his cake, but shrugged it off and went back to your own book.

You felt his eyes on you, but tried to ignore it. For ten minutes you sat in silence, him pretending to read and you rereading the same sentence over and over. You finally got fed up and slammed your book shut. “What are you looking at, Trickster?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest and looking at him in mild annoyance.

He set his book down and stood from the table, walking around to your side and leaning against the table next to where you sat. He smirked and his whiskey eyes shone in amusement and something you couldn’t quite make out. “My soulmate.” He said simply, and his smirk grew as he challenged you to deny it. You opened your mouth to tell him it was ridiculous, but he stopped you with a roll of his eyes. “Oh for dad’s sake, Y/N. I saw you checking out my wings from the hallway. I know you know what that means. Why didn’t you say something?” You just stared at him, a blush creeping up your neck to your cheeks.

“Look, Gabe… Just because I can see your wings… I mean you’re an archangel and I… You don’t have to do anything about it…” You sighed, flustered. You couldn’t even speak properly. “What I’m trying to say is that I didn’t say anything because I’m just a human. A hunter. You’re one of heaven’s most powerful. I knew you would be disappointed, so I just stayed quiet.” You took a deep breath, trying to steady yourself and looked down at the table. He was quiet for a long moment, until a piece of hair fell into your face and he instantly pushed it back behind your ear.

“We can’t chose our soulmates. Some people never even find theirs. Do you honestly think it matters to me that you’re human?” He knelt down in front of you and gently tipped your head up to look at him. “You’re my best friend. The closest thing I have to family. I love you, Y/N. Have since the day I met you. I’d love you even if you weren’t my soulmate.” He smiled kindly at you and leaned in closer. His gaze flickered to your lips and then back to your eyes, asking silent permission. You nodded a little and then his lips were on yours. All reservations you’d had about how you felt evaporated and you gripped the front of his shirt in your fist, pulling him closer.

A few moments later you pulled away, smiling at him. “I love you too, Gabriel.” You looked down suddenly, reality crashing down on you. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to ‘die bloody’ as Bobby would say. One day, I’m not going to be around anymore. Doesn’t that bother you at all?” You asked, looking back up into his eyes.

He just stared at you like you had three heads. “Uh… Hello? Archangel? I can take care of you, sugar. Don’t you worry about that.” He winked at you then. “You’re going to be baking for me for a very long time.” You chuckled at that and brought him back in for another kiss, just as the boys returned.

Tags:

Forevers:

@hamartiamacguffin @amanda-teaches @weirdnewbie @sama1314 @samsotherhalf

Gabe’s Babes: 

@ourloveisforthelovely

[canaryatlaw]

So I was a lazy bum today but was also productive and had shit to get done so I don't feel too bad about it and I'm gonna try to make up for it by being proactive tomorrow. But yeah, self-care for me lately has been like blowing responsibilities off so I can do shit I actually need to do, so I blew off mock trial practice and they weren't happy about it which made me feel bad but I was tired, dammit, and I had to do shit. Anyway. I woke up at some point and looked up where the nearest art supply store was because I needed to get supplies for the Valentine's Day card making event we're having on Wednesday. To my surprise one popped up like two blocks from me on Main Street that I hadn't seen before but I had the feeling it was gonna be like, a ritzy art supply store (because I live in a hipster neighborhood like that) when I needed more like a Michaels, but I set out to check it out and if not go to Michaels and then come back to go grocery shopping. So I head over there and as I thought, it's got like paintbrushes and figure models and not like Valentine's Day stickers and markers haha so that was a bus. I knew there was a Michaels with the dsw/marshalls I'd gone to before. So I hopped on the bus and went there, then roamed around the store for a while picking up different stuff and weighing what I could get. I ended up with a pack of construction paper, assorted stickers, 40 markers, 3 glue sticks, 3 pairs of scissors, and other Valentine's related little foam things and such and maybe something else but that's what I can remember for now lol. The line was like super long, and when I was like halfway through the lady in front of me just turns around with this panicked look on her face and is like "ohmygosh, I picked up the wrong color of these, I need to go and-" and I was like yeah of course go switch them out haha it's not gonna really affect anyone else's life, and she's like "are you sure??" and I was just like yeah of course! So she runs through the store and comes back and is just like "thank you so much!!" Haha and it just kind of made me laugh cuz like I don't understand people who would've been like "no, I won't hold your place in line, because I'm an asshole human being" so I was glad at least I could make her day a little better. Back on the bus to my neighborhood, and then to the grocery store. I didn't need too many things, just sort of an in between trip for milk, cereal, yogurt, and various lunch stuff and snacks for it, given how often I wind up packing lunches/dinners. The check out line is always super long there too, but there was a very cute little boy in the cart in front of me who kept looking at me and smiling and it kept me very entertained haha much to his and his mother's amusement. Headed home and put my groceries away and then jumped right into my reading for crim pro, being that it's the reading I'm actually doing every week, lol. It was only like 30 pages and one case though so it only took like an hour and a half, and the case was one I was familiar with because of the undisclosed podcast and their coverage of the Adnan Syed case, because it's the case that sets up the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel claims, so I knew much of what the substance of the case would be. I didn't imagine the facts of the case to be what they were though, like for it to make it to the Supreme Court I would've thought the facts would've been more compelling, but this guy ignored all his lawyers advice right through the sentencing hearing and wound up getting sentenced to death for 3 capital murders and various other crimes, then claims his lawyer was ineffective in finding enough stuff on mitigating circumstances at the sentencing hearing, and I'm just like, dude, as much as I abhor the death penalty and hate to think that anyone would meet such a fate, you really dug your own hole here by ignoring literally everything your lawyer told you, and the court agreed, but the test is still used for ineffective assistance of counsel claims (in the case that you might be interested I won't bore you with an explanation, but just google the Strickland case and you'll find plenty on it). I wanted to finish early enough to still get some cooking done because I had set some chicken out to defrost to make a big batch meal for me to take with me during the week, and of course I finish literally at 7 o click on the dot which was my goal lol so that was good. I had decided I was gonna try this recipe for ritz cracker ranch chicken, which is unsurprisingly made out of chicken, ranch, and crushed ritz crackers, lol. Pretty simple, just cut the chicken into strips, dip it in the ranch, then the crushed ritz, stick it on a baking sheet and let it bake for 25 minutes, and you're done, and it turned out pretty good, definitely easy enough. I was itching to bake something else though, so I decided to try another version of blueberry muffins because I was less than satisfied by the last recipe I tried. So while the chicken cooked I ran around doing that and then set them in the oven while I retired to my laptop and the tv. They also came out pretty good. The only thing waiting on my dvr for me to watch was how to get away with murder, which I'm still largely apathetic to at this point but I'll keep watching for now because I'm already invested at this point. It was fine I guess, Frank confessing wasn't terribly surprising, though I wouldn't be surprised if he bsed the whole thing (but also wouldn't be surprised if he really did it). I think it's an interesting story choice to keep Annalise in jail for so long, and to clearly show her deteriorating so much. Definitely reminds me of Cary's prison arc on TGW but less well done haha. And I miss the cases, dammit! I don't like it just being stupid drama of all the people they've fucking killed, lol. I wasn't very surprised when Oliver hacked the DA and they were investigating Annalise on like all of the people they fucking killed because like of course someone's gonna put together a hella lot of people around her have been dying, though she may not have directly been murdering them. But yeah, it was fine. I had to pick a new show now, so on the recommendation of a few people recently I started crazy ex-girlfriend which I totally love so far. I somehow didn't know/heard at some point but forgot that it was a musical so of course that was lovely, and I was instantly like omg Rebecca is totally me, even before I found out she was a lawyer haha so that really just cemented it. It's super clever and I'm loving the music so far, so I'm looking forward, to watching the rest of it. And yeah, that about wrapped up my night. The deal with tomorrow is that nursery sign ups are like nonexistent, we currently have nobody on the 8 am and 1 person for the 9:30, so I was texting the lady who's over me about it and she said she thinks her and the other lady over the kids ministry could cover the 8, and I said I would try to make it for the 9:30 because that's generally the craziest service, averaging like 15-20 babies and obviously that would be a problem for like one or two people haha. Normally the 9:30 is anchored by my lawyer couple friends, but they're at the Midwestern public interest law conference this weekend which some people from my school are also at, so that's cool for them. But yeah, I'm gonna try really really hard not to be lazy in the morning because I mean, babies, and if things work out as planned I should be able to do nursery, service, nursery, which is a pretty perfect set up for getting to see lots of babies and still getting to see the service and having it broken up a bit. So yeah, until then, sleep. Goodnight dudes. I hope you had a lovely Saturday.